Effect of donor cell age on development of ovine nuclear transfer embryos in vitro.

چکیده مقاله

The effects of the age of cell donor animal on in vitro development of ovine nuclear transfer (NT) embryos
were investigated. Somatic donor cells were obtained from two different sources: (1) adult cells (adult
fibroblast cells; AFC and adult cumulus cells; ACC); and (2) fetal fibroblasts (40-day-old; FFC-40 and
65-day-old; FFC-65). The fibroblast cell lines were used for NT procedures within 4–13 subpassages.
While the cumulus cells were used as non-cultured (fresh) cells. The in vitro matured abattoir-derived
oocytes were considered as recipients. No differences in the rates of fusion (75.7, 77.7, 76.3 and 86.7%) and
cleavage (80.1, 84.3, 77.8 and 74%) were detected among couplets reconstructed with FFC-40, FFC-65,
AFC and ACC, respectively. Blastocyst formation rate of those oocytes reconstructed with FFC-40 was
higher (18%; p < 0.001) than those reconstructed with FFC-65 (13%) and AFC (10.9) and comparable with
those reconstructed with ACC (17.5%). When the effect of passage number was analysed within groups
(FFC-40, FFC-65 and AFC) there were no significant differences in fusion, cleavage and blastocyst rates
between reconstructed oocytes. The present study demonstrates that the fetal and adult fibroblasts as
well as fresh cumulus cells are comparable in their ability to attain cell fusion and embryonic cleavage.
Moreover, the blastocyst formation rate is influenced by the age of the donor animal and the fresh cumulus
cells have similar remodelling potential to that of fetal fibroblasts in term of blastocyst formation rate.